Sasami Questioning
by Sasami
Summary: Sasami ends up in a foster family in the US, how or why to be further explored later...
1. Default Chapter Title

"Sasami-chan, what's wrong?" Kaatje asked her friend.

"Oh, nothing...it's just this Latin test. I'm having so much trouble learning the vocabulary!"

"You'll be fine! I've never seen a noun you couldn't decline. Want to spend some time studying after dinner tonight?"

"Okay, that's be good. I need some practice on the science chapter, too, do you think we could go over that also?"

"Sure, but what's gotten into you, Sami? You're always so cheerful and confident about school."

"Really, it's nothing...I'll catch you up later, I have to get a drink."

Sasami paused at the drinking fountain, pulling her long pigtails to her right and bending over the fountain. She straightened up and continued along the hallway to her locker.

  
  


"You've been acting weird all day," Kaatje said as they sat on the bus.

"Really! I'm fine, Kitty-chan. It's just the schoolwork. It's so hard for me to concentrate!" 

"Oh! I know," said the other girl, clapping a hand to her face. "It's been two months now since you came. You miss your sister, don't you?"

"Yes...you're right," Sasami said. "But not really her. It's just that it was so different, back in the Masaki's house...I like it here, of course, but..." She trailed off. 

"I understand." Sasami stared at the window-glass, looking back at her reflection.

  
  


"Sasami! This meal is absolutely wonderful," said Mrs. van Leyden.

"Thank you!" said Sasami. "It's one of my favorites too."

"What's in it, anyway?" asked Kaatje's father. 

"Oh, tofu, sesame, broccoli, rice and other things," she replied. "It's like stir-fry but I coat the tofu in the sauce first, then put it in the pan with the other things."

"It's really great," said Annike, Kaatje's nine-year-old sister. "You're a great cook."

"It's awesome," said Jeremy, Kaatje's older brother. "Listen, I have to go, I have a basketball practice tonight."

"Who's picking you up?" asked Mrs. van Leyden.

"David's parents. Bye! Awesome dinner, Sam!"

Kaatje and Sasami giggled. Jeremy always called her "Sam" despite her insistences that the only nicknames she had were Sami and Sasami-chan.

"If Jeremy left, then can I go play on the computer?" asked David, Kaatje's ten-year old brother.

"Okay, but don't kill that Internet window," Mrs. van Leyden said.

"Sure!" he called over his shoulder, jumping up from the table.

"So, how was school today, girls?" asked Kaatje's father.

"It was OK," Sasami answered. "Kaatje and I are going to study together after dinner."

"That's good!" said Kaatje's mother. "You two girls are so conscientious about your work. We thought maybe it would be too distracting for Kaatje to have you here too, but it's been working out so wonderfully."

"Yes," said Kaatje, smiling. 'May we be excused now? We really do need to review Latin tonight."

"Sure," said Mr. van Leyden. "Study hard."

The two girls took their dishes to the kitchen. 

"Here, I have to clean up," said Sasami. "Will you go get the Latin, Kitty? Great." Kaatje went to get her backpack while Sasami began washing the dishes. 

"Give me the principal parts of audeo"," Kaatje said.

"Umm... audacio, audere, ausus sum?" Sasami asked tentatively.

"Right! And it's a what?" prompted Kaatje.

"Semi-deponent verb," replied Sasami.

"Great," the other girl replied. "Okay, here: You decline locus."

"Let's see...locus, loci, loco, locum, loco, loca, locorum, locis, loca, locis."

"Good job!" said Kaatje. "Okay, let's do math now." Sasami put down her dishtowel and perched on the table next to Kaatje.

That night, Sasami stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom. Annike was on her right, Kaatje on her left.

"Annike-chan?" she whispered. "Are you still awake?"

"Yes," came the whisper back. "Isn't it a pretty night?"

It was. There was frost on the ground and the bare branches of the trees glimmered in the moonlight with the ice on them.

"Sasami?" she heard.

"Yes?" she whispered.

"Do you miss your old house very much?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But I like being here a lot, too."

"That's good."

"Mmm," Sasami affirmed. "Good night, Annike-chan."

"Goodnight, Sasami." The younger girl turned over in her bed, leaving Sasami staring out at the stars.

  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

The next day, Sasami thought she did well on the Latin test, or at least marginally okay. Before dinner, Sasami was mopping the floor and studying with Kaatje at the same time.

"Define melancholy!" Sasami said to Kaatje, looking over her shoulder at the vocabulary list on the counter.

"Umm...a feeling of loneliness and sadness?" the redhead tentatively guessed.

"Yes," said Sasami. "Now use it in a sentence."

"Okay, umm...Sasami is feeling melancholy because she misses her sister," teased Kaatje. 

"Hey!" protested Sasami. "I am not. You know I wanted to come here."

"No, really, you do seem pretty upset lately."

"It's fine, Kaatje. Really. I'm very happy here."

"That's good."

"Yes...that's just what Annike said."

"You were talking to Annike?" Kaatje said surprisedly.

"Well, yes, is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not at all, it's just that she's a little young to understand and stuff."

"Why not? She's nine. She's nice, I like her a lot."

"That's good."

"Yes. You're sounding a bit repetitive, Kaatje-chan." giggled Sasami.

"Well, sorry!" said Kaatje in mock defense. The two girls laughed and continued their work.

  
  


Before dinner, while Kaatje was helping David with some schoolwork, Sasami was laboring over a letter she was working on. She was trying to send it to her family, but she was finding it quite difficult to determine just what to say.

"Dear Friends,

Hi! I hope that you are all well. I miss you a lot, but I like it here. I hope that you are all keeping the house nice and clean and that you're all getting fed properly. How is Ryo-oh-ki? And I hope that nobody is fighting. I am doing okay in school-and I'm getting a very good grade in science, Washuu-chan! I am also doing well in gym class and Latin. 

Please don't anyone write me back, because I just wanted to send this letter so you would know I was doing fine. Be good! ^_^ -Sasami-chan ."

It wasn't very good but it was the best she could do at short notice. She quickly addressed it and slipped it into the envelope.

"What are you doing, Sasami?" said Annike, appearing on the stairway.

"Oh, nothing...just mailing this letter!" said Sasami, smiling nervously.

"Who's it to?" the younger girl inquired curiously.

"Oh, nobody!" said Sasami, feigning extreme cheerfulness. *sweatdrop* 

"I'll walk with you to the mailbox," she offered.

"Umm...okay!" Sasami said, slipping the letter into her jacket. The two girls walked out of the door.

"Wait up!" cried Annike, hurrying to catch up. "You're writing to the people you used to live with, aren't you?"

"Umm...yes," admitted Sasami. "Don't tell anyone!"

"I won't," promised Annike. 

"I just miss them so much!" Sasami sighed.

"I know how you feel," said Annike. "I felt like that when I went away to camp last summer."

The other girl smiled. "Thank you, Annike-chan. Come on, I think it's dinnertime! Race you!" The two of them giggled and laughed as they ran pell-mell up the street.

"Want to go play video games at the orthodontist's office after school tomorrow?" asked Kaatje of Sasami as they brushed their teeth.

"Sure, okay," said Sasami, rinsing her mouth out. "Do you want to come, Annike? We can come and get you at the elementary school."

"Oh, I can't, but thanks for asking. I'm staying late to work on a project."

"What project?" asked Kaatje curiously.

"About Ancient Greece," she said. "I'm doing a Hyper-Studio presentation on the Greek gods and goddesses."

"That sounds really neat," said Sasami. "Can I see it when you're done?"

"Sure!" Annike said excitedly, brushing her hair. "I'll bring it home on a disk, okay?"

"Great!" said Sasami delightedly. "I bet your mom will want to see it too."

"Yeah, she's right, Ann," Kaatje said. "Come on, let's get into bed."

  
  


When they were all in bed, Kaatje and Annike's mom came in to say them goodnight.

"Night, honey," she said, kissing Annike on the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too, Mom," said Annike. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sami," she said next. "Love you."

"Goodnight, Mrs. van Leyden!" said Sasami happily.

"And goodnight, sweetie," she said to Kaatje. "Sweet dreams, all of you."

"Thanks, you too," the girls said.

"Goodnight, Sasami, goodnight, Annike," said Kaatje. 

Goodnight, Kitty, goodnight Annike," Sasami said.

"Goodnight, Sasami, goodnight Kaatje," Annike said.

"Goodnight!" Kaatje leaned over and flicked the light off, and Sasami was once again left staring at the stars.

But tonight she couldn't sleep. She finally got up and went to get a glass of water in the bathroom.

She leaned down and turned on the faucet, bending her head down to drink. She straightened and looked at herself in the mirror-and jumped back in fright.

"Tsunami?" she squeaked, staring into her adult form's face.

"Hello, Sasami," said the ghostly image. "Yes, it's me. I came to tell you of what is to come."

"Oh," said Sasami, terrified and startled.

"You're here for a reason. It's important to the future." And suddenly Sasami was looking not at Tsunami, but at a giant timeline. A pulsing blue line labeled with her name was verging out from a small cluster of glowing lines she recognized as representing Aeka, Ryoko, Tenchi, Washuu and the others. It was going up, trying to reach a more violet-tinged line labeled Tsunami.

"You think you know what's to come?" Tsunami's voice said. "You haven't yet begun."

Sasami gulped. The picture of Tsunami was back.

"You need your friends all around you," she said. "You must try to put the lines right. It cannot be done alone. The question is now how, but who..." And on the timeline reappearing Sasami saw next to her line, a reddish glowing labeled Annike. 

"What?" she gasped.

"Don't worry," said Tsunami. "You don't need to worry about this for a long while. Just keep in mind...be sure to balance the distance." And then the mirror went blank and then, finally, showed her own reflection. She spun around and walked out of the bathroom, her feet cold against the tile.

"Huh?" she said, bumping into someone.

"Oh!" said Annike. Sasami stepped back and stared at her. For a minute she had the same translucent, glowing quality as Tsunami...and then it faded.

"Sorry," said Sasami, ducking quickly down the hallway.


	3. Default Chapter Title

Okay, this is my first author's note, and I don't really like doing it because I think it detracts from the story, but here it is: In case anyone cares to know, the only characters I "own" are all the van Leydens but Kaatje. Of course, Sasami, Tsunami, Washuu, Aeka etc. come from Tenchi Muyo, and the NAME ONLY Kaatje van Leyden comes from the book And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle. Her personality is my creation. 

And, I have a correction to make: In part 2, I referred to Kaatje as "the redhead". I changed my mind. She has blond hair. It's Annike that has red hair. Just for the reference, Mrs. van Leyden has blond hair too, Mr. van Leyden, Jeremy, and David all have dark hair. And for the reason that Kaatje and Annike have very German names and Jeremy and David do not, I don't know. I couldn't think of any German boy's names that fit their characters. 

And also, in case it was confusing, Kitty is Kaatje's nickname because "Kaatje" is very close to the word for "cat" in many Germanic languages. 

One more thing: The nickname suffixes. Could someone please tell me what they mean? I know that -chan is just a normal thing, but what does -san and -ne-san mean? I threw in a -san because David-san sounds better than David-chan, but I don't know its exact meaning. That's all. ^_^

  
  
  
  
  
  


The next day was the same as always, despite the fact that Sasami's recent communications with her adult form was making her jumpy. She was pouring herself a bowl of cereal in the kitchen when she felt a large hand close down on her shoulder.

"What!" she shouted, jumping around and spilling the cereal. She was facing Jeremy.

"Oh," Sasami said. "I'm sorry. You startled me!"

"Yeah, I could tell," he said. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," the girl said mildly, trying to calm her racing pulse. "I'm sorry...I didn't get much sleep last night."

"You and me both," he muttered. Huh?

"You have a basketball game today, no?" Sasami asked, changing the subject and picking up the spilled cereal.

"Oh. Yeah, thanks for remembering. Against Milton."

"Do you think your team will do well?" she asked.

"Milton's a tough team, but yes, we've been practicing really hard."

"That's good," she said, repouring the cereal and getting the milk out of the fridge.

"Yeah," he said, and Sasami walked out of the kitchen.

"Good morning, David," she said, sitting down at the table.

"Oh. Good morning, Sasami," he said, staring down at his Pop-tart.

"Sleep well?" she asked, in an attempt at cheerfulness.

"No, not really," he said. "I had lots of weird dreams."

"Really?" she asked, frowning. "Like what?"

"Oh, stuff. You were in them, actually. Except you looked a lot older. And you were with all these people, and they were here, and there was all this blue and pink light."

"Oh!" Sasami gasped. That was a lot like her vision in the mirror!

"What?" said David curiously.

"Nothing," she said, trying to control her surprise. "Nothing at all."

"I had that dream, too," said a voice, suddenly appearing behind Sasami, making her jump for the third time.

"Annike?" she said, and turned around. It was her.

"Yes, just like that," the younger girl said. "Except I was seeing myself glowing, too, and the older version of you was saying something to me I couldn't understand, and all the people with her were looking at us-you and me, the real version of you. And I saw the pink and blue light."

"That's so weird!" said Sasami. "Did you dream that too, Kitty-chan?" she said, turning to Kaatje.

"No," she replied. "But I did have one dream-I was looking at our house, and we were all playing some game in front of it, and then it was flickering, the house behind us I mean."

"That's weird," remarked David. "Maybe we're all crazy."

"Yeah, maybe," said Annike, laughing and pulling up a chair.

  
  


"So...who can tell me what the 5 relationships of Confucianism were?" asked Sasami's Social Studies teacher. "Sasami?"

"Umm...let's see..." she said,and all of a sudden she wasn't in the classroom, but in a different room, and she was looking at a table, and someone was saying, "Sasami...Aeka, Annike, focus!" and then she was back.

"Sasami?" asked the teacher. "Who else can answer the question?" and a dozen hands shot up, leaving Sasami completely dazed and confused.

  
  


"Kaatje!" she shouted. "I'm asking you a question!"

"Oh, right, sorry," said Kaatje, wiping her hands on her pants. "Where Annike was born? Not here, actually, back in Germany."

"Where in Germany?" she persisted.

"In some hospital," she said. "I don't remember the name, but I remember my mom saying that it was near this lake, very pretty, she said, and that it was a famous lake because of some lady shutting herself up in a cave to write a book or something. Like Thoreau. Have you heard of Thoreau? He isolated himself in this cabin on Walden Pond, that's about twenty minutes away from here."

"A cave?" she asked. 

"Yeah, a cave. Come, on, let's play this two-player game, okay?"

"Sure," Sasami said, picking up the other set of controls and losing four times to Kaatje in rapid succession.

  
  


"Hi," said David, coming in to the dining roomwhere Sasami was doing her homework.

"Hi, David-san," Sasami said. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," he said.

"Umm, David?" she asked. "You might not know anything about this, but where was Annike born?" 

"In Germany," he replied without hesitation. "My mom was staying there for a few months while she was pregnant. Jeremy and Kitty and me were back here, and Mom was staying with Grandma."

"Oh," she said. "And you don't know anything else?"

"Nope," he said. "Ask Jeremy, he should remember, he was five then."

"Okay," she said. "Thanks." And she walked upstairs to Jeremy and David's room, where Jeremy was studying.

"Hi, Jeremy," she said cheerfully, stopping at the doorway.

"Oh, hi, Sam," he said, looking up. "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you something," she said. 

"Sure, what?" he said, puttinghis pencil down.

"About Annike," she said, going in and sitting on David's bed. "Do you know anything about when she was born?"

"Yeah," he said. "In Germany--" Sasami mentally giggled "-in a hospital there. I remember my mom talking about it. She said that there was a lake, just out the window. It's a famous lake. A woman holed up in some cave there and wrote a book. Her name was what- I don't know. She had a funny last name, Kurrai or Lurrai or something."

"Jurai?" Sasami asked.

"Yes, that was it. Anyway, it was that lake, that the hospital was next to.

"Oh," said Sasami. "Anything else, umm, unusual?"

" Not really," Jeremy said. "She was a C-section,but that's it."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"The C-section."

"Oh...something wrong with Annike," Jeremy said. "They were quite afraid, her heart rate almost stopped, all that."

"Oh," said Sasami. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Hey, why'd you want to know?"

"Oh, no reason...just, something funny, heard, Annike, idea, her birth...I have to go," mumbled Sasami in an incoherent way as to avoid explaining but not lying, bolting out of the room.

"Hey!" he called after her. "I had this dream about you. There was you, and all of us, and this lady who looked like you, but older, and a bunch of other people, and you and Annike were looking at that lady and glowing, pink and blue, and there were these funny marks on your foreheads..."

And Sasami was gone down the hallway.


End file.
